Telephone hand piece shoulder support



Oct. 10, 1950 J. MALDONADO TELEPHONE HANDPIECE SHOULDER SUPPORT FiledAug. 26, 1947 l lll'lllllqlll d F'L'LZILSJIHJ,

' I N V EN TOR. J6 SEPf/ A6740 O/VHZP 0 Patented Oct. 10, 1.950

. TELEPHONE HAND PIECE SHOULDER SUPPORT Joseph Maldonado, Los Angeles,Calif., assig'nor to Bert N. Morris (10., Los Angeles, Calif., a

' Application August 26, 1947, Serial No. 770,568

- 1 Claim.

My invention relates to supports for the hand pieces of portabletelephones and has for its principal object, to provide a simple,practical and inexpensive support, particularly designed to be readilyapplied to the conventional telephone hand piece, thereby enabling saiduser to carry on a telephone conversation with both hands free to handlepapers, use a pen or pencil or perform other manualacts ormanipulations.

An object of the invention is to provide a telephone support having ablock which serves the double function of forming aportion of a clamp Ifor the handle of the hand phone and as a foundation piece for ashoulder support.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists incertain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts whichwill be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, in which:

I Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the support positioned on theshoulder and holding a handpiece in position for use.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevationof the handpiece showing the support appliedthereto.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the central portion of thehandpiece with the shoulderengaging arm applied thereto.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a detail section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 2.

Figs. '7 and 8 are sectional views similar to Fig. 5 and showingmodified structures.

Fig. 9 is a detail section taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 2'.

Fig. 10 is a cross section similar to Fig. 5 and showing a modifiedconstruction.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing, particularly to Figs.1 to 5 inclusive, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of myinvention, It designates the body of a conventional telephone handpiece,II the transmitter at the lower end and I2, the receiver at the upperend.

The supporting member I3 which overlies the shoulder, is formed from asingle piece of thin material such as sheet metal, plastics or rubberand said member is curved lengthwise so as to fit snugly on top of theshoulder near the neck, and said member gradually increasing in widthtowards the free end.

In order that the arm I3 may conform to the shape of the shoulder, saidarm is twisted transversely intermediate its ends, so that its outer endportion is inclined approximately fifteen degrees relative to a plane atright angles to the axis of the handpiece IU.

Inasmuch as the arm I3 is formed from sheet metal, plastics or the like,it may be readily bent and twisted by the hands to suit and litdifferent individual requirements.

In order that the arm [3- may engage the clothing on the users shoulderwith abnormal I friction and thereby more firmly maintain its properposition for use, the underface of the outer portion of said arm, may bescored, roughened or may be overlaid with a thin layer of sponge rubberI4, or a sheet of sand or emery paper.

Further, to produce the desired friction or anchorage, the edges of theend portion of the arm I!) may be provided with small serrations I5 asseen in Fig. 9.

The inner end portion of arm I3 terminates in a small rectangular plateI6, which occupies a plane substantially at right angles to the axis ofsaid arm and the sides of said plate and adjacent edges of said arm arebent at right angles to form narrow flanges H.

A block I8 of wood,plastics, rubber or the like,

having on one side a finger I9, with a concave side face I9a which fitsthe convex rear side of the central portion of handpiece I0, with saidfinger I9 lying on one of the curved side faces of said handpiece. Theblock I8 serves somewhat as a saddle, riding on the convex rear portionof the handpiece I0. As shown at I 9 in Fig. 5, one side of the saddlemay be longer than the other, although this difference may be less pronounced as shown in Fig. 7 wherein there is little diiference in lengthbetween the two sides of the saddle.

Thus the greater portion of block I8 is offset laterally with respect tothe axis of handpiece Ill.

The concave face l9a is slightly inclined crosswise with respect to itslength, and as a result, the block I8, when fitted onto the side of thehandpiece is tilted so that the end of said block outwardly from thehandpiece, is lower than the inner end, thus tending to support thehandpiece closer to the side of I the users head. (See Figs. 2 and 4.)

The concave face Illa of the block l8 fits the corresponding portion ofthe convex periphery of the handpiece I I] and a supplementary portionof the periphery of the handpiece IIJ fits the intermediate portion of asomewhat U-shaped metal strap 20, whereby the block [8 and strap 20supplement each other in encircling the handpiece. As shown in Figs. 3and 5, the bight of the strap 20 is substantially fiat to fit the flatfront of the handpiece l0. Strap 20 has rearwardly extending legs 2| and22 which fit the opposite ends of the block 18 at the rear of handpieceIll. The screw 25 and nut 23 clamp the block l8 and the strap 26together around the periphery of the handpiece !0. The block 18 thusserves as a portion of the clamp for the handpiece l0, while alsoserving as a foundation or support for the shoulder strap l3.

Plate l6 and its flanges I! overlie the end portion 22 of strap 20 andto clamp the arm, strap and block to each other and to handpiece H). Atubular nut 23 passes through plate 55, end portion 22 of the strap,into a bore 24, through block I8 and through end portion 2| of thestrap, which nut receives the threaded end of a screw 25 which passesthrough end portion 2| of the strap (see Fig. 6). Thus by manipulatingand tightening screw 25, strap 2!], block l8 and arm [3 are rigidlyclamped on the central portion of handpiece M, where they do'notappreciably interfere with the proper positioning of the handpiece onthe cradle or base of the phone, or with the lifting of said handpiecefrom 'said cradle.

It is to, be understood that band 26 may be readily adjusted and clampedat any convenient point on handpiece Hi above or below the centerthereof,

When in use, the curved arm lies across the shoulder adjacent the neckthus positioning the receiver adjacent the users ear and the transmitteradjacent the mouth, as seen in Fig. 1.

In the modified construction illustrated in Fig. 7, a saddle shapedblock 26 is positioned on the inner face of handpiece H3 with a metalstrip 2? passing around said block and handpiece and the ends of thestrip connected on the side by a screw 28.

In the modified form illustrated in Fig. 8, a two part clamping bandcomprising metal straps 28a and 20b, passesaround handpiece IE1 and overthe ends of block Mia and are clamped to the latter and to the inner endof arm I3 by a screw 30 and tubular nut 3|.

In Fig. 10, block 18 is adjustably mounted on a handpiece ID by means ofa strap 33, one end of which overlies finger IS on said block and beingsecured thereto by means of a screw 34 which passes through one end ofsaid strap, said block and the inner end of arm 13.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a telephone handpiece shouldersupport which is simple in structure, inexpensive of manufacture andvery effective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

Minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts ofmy improved telephone handpiece shoulder support may be made andsubstituted for those herein shown and described, without departing fromthe spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forth in theappended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A shoulder support for a telephone handpiece having a substantially flatfront face and a con-' vex rear face, said support comprising asubstantially U-shaped strap having an intermediate portion adapted tofit the fiat front face of the handpiece, said strap having rearwardlyextending legs adapted to extend beyond the rear of the handpiece, saidlegs being spaced apart, a block fitting between the outer ends of saidlegs, said block having a saddle-like concave portion adapted to ride onthe rear convex portion of the handpiece, said block and said strapsupplementing each other encircling the handpiece, a clamping screwextending through the legs of said strap and through said block forclamping said strap and said block onto said handpiece, a shoulderpiece, and means for securing said shoulder piece to said block.

JOSEPH MALDONADO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,250,616 Townsend Dec. 18, I9171,561,432 Hitchcock Nov. '10, 1925' 2,294,989 Keely Sept. 8, 19422,348,138 Latus May 2, 1944

